this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2025
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[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 51 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Is there a source of fresh water? Three weeks : three days.

[–] TomMasz@lemmy.world 16 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Upvoted for the programming language reference alone.

[–] Quilotoa@lemmy.ca 31 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

This absolutely depends on conditions on the island.

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

Antarctica, and you packed for Tahiti

[–] Lyra_Lycan@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 10 hours ago (1 children)
[–] RodgeGrabTheCat@sh.itjust.works 4 points 10 hours ago

I understood that reference.

[–] MohamedMoney@feddit.org 3 points 10 hours ago

So no Mangos?

[–] Olhonestjim@lemmy.world 25 points 10 hours ago

Definitely the rest of my life.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 22 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_threes_(survival)

You can survive three minutes without breathable air (unconsciousness), or in icy water.

You can survive three hours in a harsh environment (extreme heat or cold). You need shelter!

You can survive three days without drinkable water.

You can survive three weeks without food. But, many people have gone for over 40 days during fasting and have survived.

[–] IronKrill@lemmy.ca 2 points 51 minutes ago (1 children)

You can survive three weeks without food. But, many people have gone for over 40 days during fasting and have survived.

I dread to think what state your body is in by that point, it has to be consuming itself to keep going.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 2 points 36 minutes ago

You CAN survive, but the larger question is would you WANT to survive?

I'm assuming "can survive if you get immediate medical treatment at the end."

This guy went 382 days, but did have water and vitamins, just no food.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_Barbieri%27s_fast

[–] MisterNeon@lemmy.world 13 points 11 hours ago

Knowing how strong and smart I am I'm going to guess about three hours.

[–] TomMasz@lemmy.world 10 points 10 hours ago

I've got rudimentary survival skills that could keep me alive in the wilderness on the NA continent. But in a resource-limited island, it would depend on what's available. Beyond that, this question is too open-ended to answer.

[–] cactus_head@programming.dev 8 points 9 hours ago

Less than six hours, I have diabetes.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 6 points 11 hours ago

I'm so dead.

I do not have the energy for this, I'm depressed as fuck, anxious as fuck, pre-diabetic (I think) and I would just feel so weak and crumble and die. My body starts shaking the moment I process the previous foods. I would probably think its a weird dream and try to "kill myself" to exit the dream.

Very Very Dead.

I have zero survival skills even if my depression gets magically cured.

Humans aren't meant to play this game solo.

[–] rekabis@lemmy.ca 5 points 9 hours ago

Unless the island is in the PNW and it just happens to be the beginning of berry season, pretty fucking poorly. Can assemble and maintain a fire, but would likely need a modern fire starter like a lighter, electric or otherwise. Can also build most basic shelters, but it would be uncomfortable AF, anything more advanced would be trial-and-error. Not well versed in hunting despite being at least moderately decent with a bow and arrow. My best option would be scrounging for fruit and hoping I don’t get hit with diarrhea.

[–] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 5 points 9 hours ago (2 children)

Assuming it's like a small-ish tropical island and i'm the biggest predator around, with plenty of fruits and also a pond with fresh water and fish i can eat, i'd say i'll die in the middle of the first night from hypothermia because i can't tolerate cold.

[–] krawutzikaputzi@slrpnk.net 1 points 6 hours ago

Maybe it's a nice warm tropical island with perfect weather all year round.

[–] Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 1 points 6 hours ago

TIL tropical islands are freezing cold... ;-)

[–] zxqwas@lemmy.world 5 points 7 hours ago

If there is clean water and some food I can figure out how to harvest relatively easily then I like my odds.

Assuming it's not an Arctic island. Then I have until winter.

[–] Toes@ani.social 5 points 11 hours ago

As soon as I make a serious mistake like food poisoning or breaking a bone. I'm screwed without someone. Or if I'm just unfortunate enough to acquire an infection.

And this all assumes that I find what I need to survive in the first place.

[–] FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io 4 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

3 days unless I can rig a way to distill drinkable water and fuel the process indefinitely, then a few weeks until I starve unless I can figure out food too. Depends on how big the island is I guess: If there's enough to hunt, trap, and forage, I might actually be OK at least until I get sick or injured.

[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

Solar still, or a transpiration bag.

Les Stroud said that the one thing he can count on in every survival situation, is finding trash.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago

At most until my medication runs out. From then on, it's going down the drain...

[–] felsiq@piefed.zip 2 points 33 minutes ago

My phone can go two days if I make it stretch, but once it dies and I lose access to music I’d probably just drown myself

[–] cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 9 hours ago

I play Animal Crossing. My character has been going for 3 months as of yesterday. She has more clothes than people who live on the mainland, and a two-storey house with a basement and several rooms. She's paid off the racoon (or tanuki if you prefer) so she has no debt. As far as food, it sucks because AC is a vegan fantasy game in which meat and meat byproducts simply do not exist, but hey, the trees and crops grow every 3 days and put out more than enough food for me, the racoon/tanuki and his two nephews, his girlfriend, his ex-girlfriend and her sister, and the museum curator... oh and the ten villagers I have... to survive and thrive.

Oh, you mean a real deserted island? I couldn't. But I'm about to get off the computer and go cross some animals because they won't cross themselves! (I know that makes no sense, but neither does the name, which it's a play on. FWIW, the game's original Japanese name means something like "animals in the forest." The English name, I think, is a play on "Railroad Crossing," but it's still kind of nonsensical. Just like our reasons for playing this game...

[–] Zomg@piefed.world 2 points 7 hours ago

Idk, I don't like bugs lol

[–] SlartyBartFast@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 hours ago

it would be just like Minecraft, so I'd make it till nightfall until skeletons and spiders murdered me

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 hours ago

If there is a source of clean drinking water? I would have a shot tonCastaway it..

[–] vane@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

When I go ?

[–] Blackout@fedia.io 1 points 8 hours ago

24 minutes, I'm not an island person. Need my land to be at least a peninsula, maybe a cape but no island.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 1 points 6 minutes ago

Assuming it's a tropical island, I think I'd do well enough.

If it's of any size at all, there will be fresh water, and in any case, it will fall from the sky soon enough.

Even if there's nothing to eat on the land, unlikely, there's plenty in the sea.

Making fire would be my first and most difficult chore. Even guys that are practiced struggle, but if our ass is on line, it's amazing what we humans can get done.

Much depends on what gear I have when I get there. Not having any sort of knife would be hell. Having cloth is a big deal.

[–] bizzle@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

I always have a lighter so I could make fire, I can forage and fish and trap if I have to, and I'm pretty good with bushcraft. I also usually have a couple cannabis seeds in one of those keychain style pill bottles so I'm in it for the long haul, I don't think I'd even want to get rescued 😅

[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 1 points 9 hours ago
[–] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca -1 points 10 hours ago

what a dumb parameter-less question